Ross Stripling

Stripling didn't pitch well enough in 2021 to entrench himself as a member of Toronto's rotation this year. His 4.80 ERA was largely backed up by ERA estimators, and his 1.27 WHIP was the second worst mark of his career. Stripling has a starter's pitch mix and good enough command to start, but he struggles to limit hard contact and has a 2.15 HR/9 over the past two seasons. He has also never topped 122 innings in a season. With the Blue Jays signing Yusei Kikuchi after the lockout, Stripling is poised for a swing man/long reliever role.

Stripling failed to find his groove in 2020, spending time with both the Dodgers and Blue Jays. He posted the worst ERA of his big-league career, finishing with a 5.84 ERA and 1.50 WHIP to go along with a 40:18 K:BB across 49.1 frames, resulting in a 3-3 record with one save. Toronto will own the rights to Stipling for the next two seasons, but he'll need to step it up in 2021 to remain part of his team's starting rotation. He's been utilized in the past out of the bullpen, so if his struggles continue, it wouldn't be a surprise to see the 31-year-old shift to a relief role, which would be a hard pill to swallow for most fantasy owners. Stripling's fastball velocity sits around 91 mph, so he relies heavily on his other three pitches along with his command to get batters out. This was a clear issue in 2020, issuing 18 free passes in 49.1 innings in comparison to 20 walks in 2019 over 90.2 innings.

Stripling's ability to shift seamlessly from the bullpen to the rotation was great for the Dodgers but maddening for fantasy. With Julio Urias ready and Dustin May and Tony Gonsolin emerging, Stripling appeared set to continue as a swingman with fewer starts compared last year when only 17 of his 32 appearances came out of the bullpen. Fortunately, it looks like he will finally get a real chance to establish himself as a major-league starting pitcher; while a February trade to the Angels fell through, a move still seems likely. Stripling's four-pitch repertoire plays in any role. He doesn't bring the heat with a 91-mph fastball, but he keeps batters off balance with a slider, change and curve thrown at distinctly different speeds. The result is a fine K-BB% around 20% the past three years. Stripling is great for NL/AL-only, because even if he does move to the bullpen eventually, he will still end up with more innings than the conventional reliever.

Where did that come from? Stripling went from being a long reliever in 2017 to a starter for a large portion of 2018 while improving his strikeout and walk rates. He began the season in the bullpen, but entered the rotation at the end of April and went 6-2 with a 2.29 ERA, 1.03 WHIP, a 52% groundball rate, and a 27% K-BB through his first 11 starts. He went 2-4 over his final 10 starts with a 4.84 ERA, 1.39 WHIP, a 41% groundball rate, and a 19% K-BB rate. He also did not pitch in the postseason. To be fair, Stripling dealt with lower-body injuries in the second half, so we can understand some of the late struggles. The overall skills are rather attractive even if the ERA will assuredly rise because he cannot strand 86% of his baserunners again. The swingman role may suit him best because he has never thrown more than 125 innings in any season, and is only a year from age 30.

After being primarily used as a starter during his rookie campaign, Stripling transitioned to a relief role in 2017 due to the surplus of quality starters in the Dodgers' rotation entering the season. The 28-year-old pitched well in his new role, compiling a 3.75 ERA and 1.18 WHIP while pitching more innings (74.1) than any other Dodgers reliever. He was more effective in his sophomore season, striking out the same number of batters (74) as he did in 2016 despite tossing 25.2 fewer innings. He also saw his walk rate drop from 7.2 percent in 2016 to 6.3 percent in 2017. While Stripling showed improvements, he's still on the outside looking in at a rotation spot, and it would likely take multiple injuries to the Dodgers' starting rotation for him to get a shot as a starter next season.

Stripling started his major league career off with a bang when he threw 7.1 no-hit innings against the Giants in his Dodgers debut. It was certainly unexpected for a pitcher who had never played above Double-A, never made a top-100 prospect list and only joined the Opening Day rotation due to injuries to other pitchers. After his memorable debut, Stripling bounced between the rotation and bullpen and was occasionally benched due to an innings limit stemming from 2014 Tommy John surgery. The most notable weapon in his arsenal is an above-average curveball that backs up his low-90s heat, a combination that didn't generate many strikeouts (6.7 K/9) but did add up to a roughly league-average ERA of 3.96. He eventually settled in as the Dodgers' long man in the bullpen and occupied that role in the playoffs. That will likely be his planned role again in 2017, though he will also provide starting depth for a team that has desperately needed it the last couple of years.

Stripling, a 2012 fifth-round pick, had a bit of a breakout in 2013, posting a combined 2.82 ERA in 127.2 innings between the High-A and Double-A levels. He finished with an impressive 117:30 K:BB ratio and is already thought to be polished enough to potentially push for a big league job in 2014. Despite the optimism, expect Stripling to open this season at Double-A and await his opportunity, which could take another full season with improving depth ahead of him at the big league level.